The England team has landed in Kolkata, India, to play a series of five T20 internationals. By the way, Liam Livingstone was the first to arrive from Dubai, and he came alone because there weren't any direct flights from South Africa. He was playing for the Pretoria Capitals over there. He managed to get a leave from his principal and took a direct flight to be the first one to reach India. Following him, Jos Buttler and the rest of the T20 squad have also arrived, so now the series is about to kick off!
There will be five matches in this series, and it's pretty important. England and India have been going at it for a while now, and the rivalry is strong because India has won all four of their previous T20 International series against England. They've even won twice in England. Now, England is saying, "Hey, we need to shake things up a bit," because India has been dominating since 2016-17. Back then, they had a three-match series, and India won it 2-1. Then, the following year, another series happened.
India has beaten England twice, once by 2-1 in a series in 2020-21, and then again by 3-2. After that, there was another three-match series in 2022, which India also won 2-1. Now, the England folks are saying that there should be some kind of shake-up. Overall, there have been 24 matches played between India and England in T20 internationals, with India winning 13 and England winning 11. Out of these, India has 6 wins at home while England has 5.
"India has four matches, and England has five. There’s one neutral venue, and India has won three matches there while England has won one. So, England will definitely put in a lot of effort, saying, 'We can’t let this happen again.' The first match is at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, starting on the 22nd. Then there’s a match in Chennai on the 25th, followed by another match on the 28th in Rajkot, and another one in Pune on the 31st. After that, there’s a match on February 2nd at Wan Khede, and then the ODI series will kick off."
The England team is definitely gearing up for this, bringing in some solid fast bowlers, spinners, and all-rounders. Just look at Liam Livingstone; he's going to give it his all to try and wipe away the stain of past years. But it’s not going to be easy because India’s recent performance in T20s has been really impressive. The World Cup is right around the corner, and if you check out the recent series against South Africa and then Australia, you’ll see that India’s T20 team is quite strong. What about the ODIs?
There's some talk about the Champions Trophy, but when it comes to the England series, Team India is definitely the favorite. The captain is a different guy, Suryakumar Yadav, and he leads the team in a unique way. He doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight; if someone can do well in his place, he's all for it. That’s the level of leadership he’s showing. Just look at what Tilak Varma and Sanju Samson did in South Africa. A captain’s confidence really matters.
Since Surya is in great form, that's a huge plus. Let's see how this five-match T20 series plays out. But I have to say, the big advantage is definitely for India – home ground, home crowd, home pitches, home conditions, and the T20 boys are in good form. All these factors really matter. On the other hand, England hasn't been performing well lately. As they say, they've been taking a beating – they lost to the West Indies and also to Australia.
Even if they lose, it's not like they have anything special going on. They’re probably just thinking, “Hey, we’ve got to get our act together.” They’ve got that ODI series to play and then they'll head into the Champions Trophy. So they’re trying to sort out their batting and bowling, getting their lines and lengths right because a major tournament is coming up. This five-match series might not be memorable, but the Champions Trophy definitely will be. Plus, they've hosted it twice before and didn’t win either time—England beat India once in that.
So, Pakistan took the Champion Trophy to England again, and now we’re waiting for the series to kick off. But honestly, if you look at the stats, the individual performances are clear-cut. When you check the overall performances of the teams, and especially at the individual level, Indian players definitely stand out more compared to the English players.
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